Skip links

James Cook (1728–79,) usually referred to as “Captain Cook,” was an English naval captain, explorer, navigator, and cartographer. The greatest European explorer of the Pacific Ocean in the 18th century, Cook precisely mapped it. He is also distinguished for his application of scientific methods to exploration.

Cook explored the seaways and coasts of Canada (1759, 1763–67) and conducted three expeditions to the Pacific Ocean (1768–71, 1772–75, 1776–79.) His voyages ranged from the Antarctic ice fields to the Bering Strait and from the coasts of North America to Australia and New Zealand. On his third expedition, he discovered the Sandwich (Hawaiian) Islands, but when he stopped in Hawaii on his return trip, his crew became engaged in a brawl with the islanders over the stealing of a boat. Cook was stabbed to death.

Cook set new standards of meticulousness in discovery and seamanship, in navigation, cartography, and the welfare of men at sea, in dealings with indigenous peoples—friendly and hostile,—and in the application of scientific principles at sea. His Journals give a detailed account of his three voyages to the Pacific.